,1AMRS  LYNE'S  SURVEY 

OK,  AS  IT  IS  MORE  COMMONLY 
KNOWN 

■)  I  ili  BRADFORD  MAP 


lEx  iCtbrtfi 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


"When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever'thing  comes  ('  him  who  waits 

E-xcept  a  loaned  book." 


OF  THIS  BOOK  THERE  HAVE  BEEN 
PRINTED  THIRTY-TWO  COPIES 
ON  IMPERIAL  JAPAN  PAPER  AND 
ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY 
COPIES  ON  HOLLAND  PAPER 


JAMES  LYNE'S  SURVEY 

OR,  AS  IT  IS  MORE  COMMONLY 
KNOWN 

THE  BRADFORD  MAP 


FACSIMILE  OF  THE  BRADFORD  MAP 
ONE-HALF  THE  SIZE  OF  THE  ORIGINAL 


JAMES  LYNE'S  SURVEY 

OR,  AS  IT  IS  MORE  COMMONLY 
KNOWN 

THE  BRADFORD  MAP 

A  PLAN  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK  AT  THE 
TIME  OF  THE  GRANTING  OF  THE 
MONTGOMERY  CHARTER 
IN  1 73 1 

AN  APPENDIX 

TO    AN    ACCOUNT    OF   THE  SAME 
COMPILED    IN    1893  BY 

William  Loring  Andrews 


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NEW  YORK 

DODD,  MEAD  &  COMPANY 
M      D      C      C      C  C 


COPYRIGHT,   1900,  BY 
WILLUM  LORING  ANDREWS 


tf)at  man  map  ftecp." 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Facsimiles,  by  the  Bierstadt 
process,  of  the  original  Bradford 
Map  ;  of  the  copy  which  appears 
in  David  T.  Valentine's  History 
of  New  York  (1853),  reduced  one 
half  in  size;  and  of  the  original 
Duyckinck  Map  in  the  possession 
of  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety, reduced  from  its  original 
size  of  jy/z  X  18  inches  to  11x6. 


THE  BRADFORD  MAP 


APlan  o&,the  City  of  New  York  from  an  adlual  Survey 

S^T,\fi  /  .  '^^  '  ■  '  .    .         M&de  by  lames  Vt** 


FACSIMILE  OF  A  SPECIMEN  LITHOGRAPHIC  COPY  OF  THE  BRADFORD  MAI" 
ONE-HALF  THE  SIZE  OF  THE  ORIGINAL 


THE  BRADFORD  MAP 


A  PLAN  OF  THE  CITY  OF 

[l^ew  York 


from  an  actual  survey  made  by 


JJl(MES  LYNE 

and  printed  and  published  by 

AN  APPENDIX  TO  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 
THE  SAME  COMPILED  AND  PUB- 
LISHED IN   1893   BY  THE 
AUTHOR    OF  THIS 
MONOGRAPH 


through  the  world,  some  malev- 
olent fairy  appears  to  bestow 
upon  it  the  seven-leagued  boots 
of  Le  Petit  Poucet,  equipped  with 
which  it  makes  such  rapid  strides 


HEN  a  full-fledged 
and  lusty  error  sets 
forth  upon  its  journey 


3 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


that  sober-minded  and  slower- 
paced  truth  is  seldom,  if  ever, 
able  to  overtake  it.  This  deplor- 
able fact  is  well  exemplified  by 
the  singularly  persistent  repeti- 
tion of  erroneous  statements  in 
regard  to  the  first  map  of  this 
City  (printed  in  New  York) 
which  is  known  to  exist. 

This  map,  the  historical  and  top- 
ographical importance  of  which 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  scarcely 
any  account  of  our  City  has  ever 
been  written  that  does  not  re- 
fer to,  or  reproduce  it,  was  pub- 
lished, probably  in  1731,  by  New 
York's  first  established  printer, 
William  Bradford,'^  from  a  sur- 

*Also  a  bookbinder  and  paper  maker,  as  is  shown 
by  the  advertisement  in  his  "Gazette":  "  Printed 
and  sold  by  William  Bradford  in  New  York,  where 
advertisements  are  taken  in,  and  where  you  may 

4 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


vey  made  by  James  Lyne.  Only 
two  impressions  from  the  orig- 
inal copper-plate  of  this  engrav- 
ing are  known,  one  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  writer,  and  the 
other  in  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society,  presented  to  it 
in   1807  by  John  Pintard,*  an 

have  old  books,  new  Bound,  either  Plain  or  Gilt,  and 
Money  for  Linen  Rags."  Bradford  did  not,  how- 
ever, enjoy  a  bibliopegic  monopoly  in  the  infant 
city  and  among  its  scant  9,000  inhabitants,  Joseph 
Johnson  likewise  advertises  (September,  1 734)  that 
he  "  is  now  set  up  Bookbinding  for  himself  as  formerly, 
and  lives  in  Duke  St.  (commonly  called  Bayard  St.) 
near  the  Old  Slip  Market ;  where  all  Persons  in 
Town  and  Country,  may  have  their  Books  carefully 
and  neatly  Bound  either  Plain  or  Gilt,  reasonable." 
William  Bradford  and  Joseph  Johnson  would  appear 
therefore  to  divide  between  them  the  honor  of  intro- 
ducing amongst  us  the  art  of  Bookbinding. 

*Of  Huguenot  descent,  born  in  New  York  City, 
May  18,  175Q,  died  there  June  2 1 ,  1844.  On  the  ar- 
rival of  the  British  troops  in  New  York  he  left  Prince- 
ton College  and  joined  the  patriot  forces,  but  re- 
turned in  time  to  receive  his  degree  in  1776.  Atter 
peace  had  been  declared  he  turned  his  attention  to 


5 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


eminent  merchant  and  public- 
spirited  citizen  of  New  York, 
who  died  in  1844,  aged  eighty- 
five  years.  The  testimony  of  one 
whose  memory  extended  so  far 
back  into  pre-revoiutionary  times 
would  appear  to  be  entitled  to 
considerable  weight. 

the  shipping  business.  He  was  one  of  the  incorpo- 
rators, in  1819,  of  the  first  savings  bank  that  was 
established  in  New  York  City — the  Bank  for  Savings, 
now  at  the  corner  of  Fourth  Avenue  and  Twenty- 
second  Street — serving  as  its  third  president  from 
1828  to  1841.  From  1819  until  1829  he  was  secre- 
tary of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He 
was  treasurer  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  in  1819-23. 
In  1804  he  was  active  in  founding  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  to  which  he  presented  many  valu- 
able works  on  Colonial  history,  and  he  was  likewise 
instrumental  in  establishing  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society  in  1791,  winning  the  title  of  "  father 
of  historical  societies  in  this  country."  Mr.  Pintard 
was  also  active  in  the  foundation  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  served  as  its  secretary,  and  then  as  its 
vice-president,  and  was  the  first  sagamore  of  the 
Tammany  Society. — Appleton's  Cyclopjedia  of  Amer- 
ican Biography. 

The  following  notice  in  Bradford's  New  York 
"Gazette"  for  January  is,  1730,  presumably  relates 

6 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


The  following  note,  endorsed 
upon  the  copy  of  c//  Plan  of  the 
City  of]^EW  York  from  an 
actual  Survey  Made  by  James  Lyne, 
in  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety, is  signed  by  Mr.  Pintard  : 

"Col.  Lurting  {whose  name 
appears  in  the  shield  in  the  upper 
right-hand  corner  of  the  Map) 
was  appointed  Mayor,  Sept.  29, 
1726,  O.  S.  (old  style.)  He  died 
July  23,  1735,  O.S.  This  plan 
therefore  was  taken  between 
these  periods— presumed  from 
tradition  in  17^0." 

to  an  ancestor  of  the  donor  to  the  New  York  Histori- 
cal Society  of  the  Bradford  Map  :  ''All  persons  that 
have  any  demands  on  John  Pintard  and  the  Estate  of 
Capt.  John  Searle  (his  brother-in-law)  deceas'd  are 
desired  to  bring  in  their  Accompts  :  and  all  those 
who  are  Indebted  to  them  are  desired  to  pay  the 
Ballance  to  said  Pintard  to  save  further  Trouble. 
Also  the  Utensils  in  the  Rope-walk  are  to  be  sold , 
and  sundry  Ship  Chandlery  Wares." 

7 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 

"  Gov  Montgomerie  arrived 
April  15,  1728.  Died  July  1, 
1731."  Now,  with  this  statement 
made  in  1807  by  John  Pintard, 
before  their  eyes,  why  should 
the  copyists  guess  at  the  date  of 
1728  ?  At  the  same  time  (1807) 
that  Mr.  Pintard  presented  this 
original  engraving  of  the  Brad- 
ford Map  to  the  Society  of  which 
he  was  the  originator  and 
founder,  he  also  donated  it 
"A  Plan  of  the  City  of  New 
York  from  an  actual  Survey 
Anno  Domini  MDCCLy.  By 
F.  Maerschalck,  City  Survey^ 
Printed,  Engraved  For  and  Sold 
by  G.  Duyckinck  and  dedicated 
by  him  to  the  Honourable  James 
De  Lancey  Esq"^  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor and  Commander  in  Chief, 

8 


APlan  oFtheC  ity  of  New  York  from  a^%a(ftual  Survey   ^\nno  Domini  M.DCQlV 


FACSIMILE  OF  THE  DUYCKINCK  MAP 
ONE-THIRD  THE  SIZE  OF  THE  ORIGINAL 


I 


THE    BRADFORD  MAP 


In  and  over  the  Province  of 
New  York  and  Territories  De- 
pending thereon  In  America." 

This  map  is  of  even  greater 
rarity  than  the  Bradford  Map,  as 
one  of  the  two  copies  known  is 
in  a  very  imperfect  condition. 
The  left-hand  portion  of  the 
Duyckinck,  resembles  the  Brad- 
ford Map  so  closely  in  size  and  in 
the  style  of  the  engraving  that  it 
is  not  a  wild  conjecture  that 
Gerardus  Duyckinck,  limner  and 
picture-dealer  at  the  sign  of  the 
Two  Cupids  near  the  Old  Slip 
Market — (the  same  Gerardus 
Duyckinck,  I  imagine,  who  sup- 
plied the  Coats  of  Arms,  "curi- 
ously burnt  in  glass,"  of  the  elders 
and  magistrates  of  the  old  Gar- 
den Street  Church,  which  adorned 

9 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


the  small  panes,  set  in  lead,  of  the 
windows  of  that  sacred  edifice) 
— may  have  obtained  possession 
of  Bradford's  copper-plate,  pieced 
it  out,  and  thus  on  the  ruins  of 
the  Bradford  Map  constructed  his 
own.  This  appears  to  have  been 
a  favorite  contrivance  of  these 
early  engravers,  for  the  Burgis 
copper-plates  of  New  York  City 
and  Harvard  College  were,  we 
know,  thus  manipulated. 

In  1834,  twenty-seven  years 
after  the  gift  of  Mr.  Pintard  to  the 
Historical  Society  was  made,  the 
Bradford  Map  was,  apparently, 
for  the  first  time,  reproduced  by 
lithography,  but  not  with  exact- 
ness, and  a  date,  1728,  for  which 
there  is  no  authority  whatever, 
was  added.    The  sins  of  both 


10 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


omission  and  commission  are  to 
be  laid  at  the  door  of  the 
draughtsman  of  the  tracing  by 
means  of  which  the  first  copy 
was  necessarily  made,  as  pho- 
tography was  not  then  in  use. 
The  words  "  Ledge  of  Rocks, " 
which  appear  in  the  original,  are 
omitted  in  the  copies.  The  fif- 
teen boats  and  ships  displayed 
in  the  original  are  reduced  to  ten, 
and  the  height  of  the  copies  is 
about  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
less  than  that  of  the  original. 
There  are  other  characteristics 
— the  eighteenth-century  paper 
and  the  delicate  copper-plate 
effects  which  mark  the  original 
map,  and  some  minor  points 
besides  those  mentioned — in 
which  it  differs  from  the  copies  ; 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


for  instance,  several  of  the  letters 
in  the  inscription  on  the  scroll 
below  the  City  Arms,  which  are 
sharp  and  clear  in  the  original, 
are,  in  many  of  the  copies,  ob- 
literated by  the  shading  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  words  can- 
not be  deciphered;  and  even  in 
the  plan  of  the  streets  there  are 
slight  discrepancies,  but  a  simple 
statement  that  a  so-called  Brad- 
ford Map  bears  a  date  is  suffi- 
cient of  itself  to  condemn  it  as 
an  original  impression  and  brand 
it  as  a  copy.  These  counterfeits 
are  scattered  broad-cast  through 
the  land  in  public  and  private 
libraries  where  they  are  re- 
garded with  implicit  confidence 
as  genuine  impressions  from  the 
original  Bradford  Map  copper- 


12 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


plate,  and  proudly  displayed  as 
such. 

Following  with  a  blind  and 
simple  faith,  this  reproduction  of 
1834,  various  other  copies  of  this 
noted  Survey  of  James  Lyne  have 
been  made,  from  time  to  time, 
and  nearly  every  writer  upon  our 
local  history,  who  has  pictorially 
embellished  his  work,  has  in- 
serted in  it  a  facsimile  of  a  litho- 
graphic map,  purporting  to  have 
been  made  in  1728  (regardless  of 
the  fact  that  the  art  of  lithogra- 
phy was  not  invented  by  Alois 
Senefelder  of  Munich  until  1792, 
and  not  introduced  into  this 
country  until  about  the  year 
18 1 9),  and  presented  it  to  his 
readers  as  a  true  and  faithful  re- 
production of  William  Bradford's 

'3 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


copper-plate.  It  has  remained, 
however,  for  Mr.  John  Fiske  to 
go  farther  and  fare  worse  in  this 
matter  than  the  historians  who 
have  preceded  him,  inasmuch  as 
he  essays  to  be  more  explanatory 
of  the  situation  by  suggesting 
that  there  may  have  been  differ- 
ent states  of  the  original  Map. 

Referring  in  his  table  of  con- 
tents to  the  map,  which  appears 
in  Vol.  11,  page  258,  of  his  work, 
Mr,  Fiske  writes  : 

"James  Lyne's  Map  of  New 
York  in  1728. — From  an  original 
kindly  lent  by  General  James 
Grant  Wilson.  1  am  informed 
by  Mr.  Wilberforce  Fames  that 
Mr.  W.  L.  Andrews  has  an  origi- 
nal without  the  date,  which  cor- 
roborates a  suspicion  that  the 
14 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


date  1728  may  have  been  absent 
from  the  map  as  first  issued. 
Montgomerie's  Ward,  which  ap- 
pears on  the  map,  was  not  cre- 
ated until  1731."  (A  fact  to  which 
the  writer  of  this  article  believes 
he  was  the  first  to  draw  attention 
as  one  evidence  of  the  incorrect- 
ness of  the  date  of  1728  attached 
to  the  copies  of  the  map.) 

Turning  to  the  map  on  page 
258  of  Vol.  11  of  Mr.  Fiske's 
book,  1  found  a  reduced  copy  of 
the  lithograph  with  the  date  1 728, 
which  has  masqueraded  on  so 
many  previous  occasions  as  the 
original  Bradford  Map.  This  was 
as  1  expected,  as  1  knew  that 
General  Wilson  did  not  have, 
and  1  did  not  believe  he  would 
claim  to  have  (which  he  writes 

"5 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


me  he  does  not),  an  impression 
of  the  map  from  the  original  cop- 
per-plate of  William  Bradford. 
1,  thereupon,  wrote  Mr.  Fiske 
a  note  to  the  following  effect: 

"  Dear  Sir: 

"  In  the  table  of  contents  of 
your  book  'The  Dutch  and 
Quaker  Colonies  in  America,' 
you  state  that  the  map,  which 
appears  at  page  258  of  Vol.  II,  is 
a  copy  of  an  '  original '  loaned 
you  by  General  Wilson,  and  you 
refer  to  one  which  you  were  in- 
formed by  Mr.  Eames  of  the 
Lenox  Library  was  in  my  pos- 
session, which  bore  no  date, 
from  which  circumstance  you 
surmise  that  there  may  have 
been  two  states  of  the  original 
16 


THE    BRADFORD  MAP 


James  Lyne  or  (as  it  is  better 
known)  the  Bradford  Map.  You 
apparently  were  not  aware  that 
there  are  other  considerable  dif- 
ferences between  the  map  in  my 
possession  and  the  copy  you  re- 
produce besides  the  absence  of  a 
date.  I  have  found  by  experi- 
ence that  copies  never  follow 
faithfully  the  originals  and  there 
is  always  a  *  tell-tale '  some- 
where. 

"This  statement  over  your 
name,  if  erroneous,  as  1  think 
you  will  find  upon  investigation 
that  it  is,  is  calculated  to  do 
much  harm,  as  it  will  aid  book 
and  print  dealers  to  either  wit- 
tingly or  ignorantly  deceive  their 
customers  with  the  numerous 
copies  of  the  Bradford  Map  that 

'7 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


are  in  circulation  from  the  litho- 
graph made  by  George  Hay- 
ward*  in  1834  down  to  the  re- 
productions of  recent  times, 
printed  and  published  by  the 
hundred  for  advertisement  and 
other  purposes.  These  have  lit- 
tle value,  but  they  are  being  con- 
tinually palmed  off  upon  the 
public  as  genuine  impressions 
from  the  original  copper-plate  of 
William  Bradford,  at  all  sorts  of 
prices.    This  statement  in  your 


♦The  inscription  at  the  foot  of  this  lithographic 
copy,  which  I  judge  to  be  the  first  one  made,  reads 
thus:  "Facsimile  of  an  original  map  in  the  pos- 
session of  G.  B.  Smith,  Street  Commissioner.  Pub'd 
by  G.  Hayward,  Lithographer,  No.  1  Cortlandt  St., 
New  Yortt,  1834."  The  next  facsimiles  issued  are 
probably  the  ones  in  Valentine's  Manuals  for  1842-5, 
1844-45,  3nd  in  his  history  (1853),  and  then  we  have 
one  published  by  F.  B.  Patterson,  61  Liberty  Street 
(1874).  How  many  others  may  have  preceded  this, 
or  followed  it,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  say. 

18 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


book  will  be  a  service  to  print 
sellers  which  1  am  sure  that, 
aware  of  its  incorrectness,  you 
would  not  desire  to  render. 

"  I  would  have  been  glad  to 
have  shown  you  an  original  Brad- 
ford Map,  one  of  the  two  copies 
known,  and  you  would  not  then 
have  been  led  astray  by  this  old 
deception,  which  has  been  again 
and  again  exposed,  but  which 
writers  upon  our  local  history 
cling  to  so  tenaciously,  as  though 
they  loved  and  could  not  bear  to 
part  with  the  pleasing  delusion." 

To  this  note,  written  several 
weeks  ago,  Mr.  Fiske  has  so  far 
made  no  reply.  If  it  did  not  mis- 
carry in  the  mails  and  Mr.  Fiske 
received  my  communication,  he 
has  seen  fit  to  answer  it  only  by 

"9 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


a  silence  which  we  are  told  is 
sometimes  more  eloquent  than 
words. 

A  reduced  facsimile  of  one  of 
these  copies  of  the  Bradford  Map, 
similar  to  the  one  in  Mr.  Fiske's 
book,  appears  in  General  Wil- 
son's "Memorial  History  of  the 
City  of  New  York,"  Vol.  II,  page 
185,  and  is  described  in  a  foot- 
note as  a  complete  copy  of  the 
map  as  it  was  printed  by  Brad- 
ford in  1728.  1  trust  that,  for  the 
sake  of  historical  truth  and  accu- 
racy. General  Wilson  will  correct 
this  foot-note  in  future  editions 
of  his  "Memorial  History,"  and 
replace  his  reproduction  of  the 
copy  with  the  imaginary  date  of 
1728  with  a  facsimile  of  the  true 
and  genuine,  although  some- 
20 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


what  tattered  and  torn,  engraving 
of  the  Bradford  Map,  which  has 
lain  open  to  inspection  in  the 
New  York  Historical  Society  for 
nearly  a  century,  and  made  it  all 
these  long  years  quite  as  easy  to 
be  in  the  right  as  in  the  wrong 
in  this  matter. 

The  reports  which  come  at  in- 
tervals from  north,  south,  east 
and  west,  of  the  finding  of  origi- 
nal Bradford  Maps,  have  in  them 
an  element  of  ludicrousness  to 
any  one  familiar  with  the  exces- 
sive rarity  of  engravings  executed 
in  this  country  at  the  period  to 
which  the  map  belongs  and  the 
poverty  of  the  arts  at  that  distant 
time.  1  have  been  searching  dili- 
gently for  early  American  prints 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  1 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


venture  to  make  the  assertion 
that  not  more  than  three  or  four 
impressions  exist  of  any  American 
engraving  executed  prior  to  the 
middle  of  the  last  century.  Of 
the  "  Prospect  of  the  Colledges 
in  Cambridge  in  New  England," 
produced  by  William  Burgis  in 
1726,  the  copy  in  the  possession 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  discovered  not  many 
years  ago,  is  the  only  one  known 
to  exist.  Of  the  re-impression 
of  this  plate,  issued  in  1739  or 
1740,  1  have  a  perfect  impres- 
sion, with  the  exception  of  the 
title,  and  1  know  of  no  other 
in  as  fair  a  state  of  preservation. 
The  copy  in  Harvard  College  is 
in  a  very  damaged  condition  (un- 
less they  have  found  another 
22 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


within  the  last  few  years),  and  the 
one  in  the  Massachusetts  Histori- 
cal Society  is  thus  described  by 
the  custodian  of  that  institution : 
"So  discolored  by  time  that  por- 
tions of  it  are  almost  indistin- 
guishable, and  the  panel  upon 
which  it  was  pasted  had  also  be- 
come much  warped  and  cracked." 

Of  the  "View  of  the  City  of 
New  York  in  1717,"  by  William 
Burgis  (the  most  important  and 
interesting  of  the  early  pictures 
of  our  city),  there  is  but  the  one 
solitary  copy  owned  by  the  New 
York  Historical  Society,  and  but 
two  of  the  impressions  from  the 
same  plate,  issued  in  1746,  are 
known — one  in  the  above-named 
institution  and  one  in  the  New 
York  Society  Library. 

23 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


Of  the  "Northwest  Prospect 
of  "Nassau  Hall  in  New  Jersey  " 
(Princeton  College),  engraved  by 
H.  Dawkins,  1764  (?),  the  Col- 
lege has  only,  1  am  told,  an  im- 
perfect copy,  and  1  can  learn  of 
but  two  others  (besides  my  own), 
as  to  the  state  of  preservation  of 
which,  1  am  not  clearly  informed. 

Of  the  Burgis  engraving  of  the 
"  New  Dutch  Church  "*  (corner 

*The  "New  Dutch  Church."  Why  so  called  is  thus 
stated  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dewitt  in  a  discourse  deliv- 
ered in  the  North  Reformed  Dutch  Church  (corner 
of  William  and  Fulton  Streets)  on  the  last  Sabbath 
in  August,  1856,  one  of  the  illustrations  in  which  is 
a  ''  facsimile  on  a  reduced  scale  of  a  print  of  the 
old  Middle  Dutch  Church  in  its  original  state  as  first 
built,  executed  in  1751." 

The  old  church  in  the  fort  had  become  incon- 
veniently located,  was  beginning  to  decay,  and  the 
popularity  of  Dom  Selyns  called  for  more  spacious 
accommodations.  Tradition  says  that  a  diversity  of 
opinions  existed  as  to  the  site  to  be  selected,  a  por- 
tion of  the  congregation  contending  that  the  spot 
afterwards  chosen  was  too  far  out  of  town.  The 


24 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


of  Nassau  and  Liberty  Streets) 
dedicated  to  the  Honourable  Rip 
Van  Dam,  Esq.,  which  was  exe- 
cuted probably  about  the  year 
1732,  only  one  copy  is  positively 
known  to  exist,  and  the  same 
may  be  said  of  "A  View  of 

deed  conveying  the  site  is  dated  in  1690,  and  defines 
it  as  being  in  Garden  Street  (Exchange  Place),  and 
adjacent  to  the  orchard  belonging  to  Elizabeth  Dris- 
ius,  the  widow  of  Dominie  Drisius.  1  find  an  ac- 
count of  the  expenses  of  the  church,  audited  in 
169s,  which  amounted  to  64,178  guilders,  or  $27,- 
671  of  our  money.  ...  It  was  opened  for 
divine  service  in  1693  before  it  was  thoroughly  fin- 
ished. .  .  This  house  continued  the  only 
home  of  worship  for  our  Dutch  ancestors  till  the 
building  of  another  at  the  corner  of  Nassau  and 
Liberty  Streets.  After  the  erection  of  the  church  in 
Nassau  Street  the  church  in  Garden  Street  took  the 
name  of  Old,  and  in  Nassau  Street  that  of  the  New  ; 
and  when  the  church  at  the  corner  of  Fulton  and 
William  Streets  was  erected  it  took  the  name  of  the 
North,  when  the  Garden  Street  Church  was  desig- 
nated as  the  South,  and  the  Nassau  Street  as  the 
Middle.  The  terms  old  and  new,  however,  contin- 
ued to  be  applied  to  the  two  latter  for  a  long  time 
subsequent." 


25 


THE    BRADFORD  MAP 


Castle  William  by  Boston  in 
New  England,"  which  was  prob- 
ably engraved  by  William  Burgis 
at  about  the  same  period.  It  is 
natural  to  presume  that  these 
artists  executed  other  engravings 
besides  those  we  know,  which  1 
have  enumerated,  not  a  vestige 
of  which,  apparently,  remains. 
There  is  a  vague  but  fondly-cher- 
ished legend  that  another  copy 
of  the  engraving  of  the  "New 
Dutch  Church "  exists  some- 
where down  in  the  wilds  of  Long 
Island  and  will  some  day  come 
to  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety, but  for  at  least  twenty-five 
years  to  my  own  knowledge  it 
has  been  a  case  of  the  "  hope  de- 
ferred that  maketh  the  heart 
sick." 

26 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


These  engravings  are  the  incu- 
nabula of  chalcography  in  these 
United  States,  and  not  even  the 
German  xylographic  prints  of  the 
fifteenth  century  excel  them  in 
point  of  rarity.  The  woodcut  of 
St.  Christopher  with  the  date  of 
1423,  unearthed  in  a  convent  fifty 
miles  from  the  old  Roman  town 
of  Augsburg  in  Bavaria,  and  Bur- 
gis's  copper-plate  engraving  of 
the  "  Middle  Dutch  Church  in 
New  York,"  executed  more  than 
three  hundred  years  later,  meet 
on  equal  terms  in  this  respect, 
and  may  salute  each  other  as 
fellow-members  of  a  very  limited 
and  exclusive  circle. 

We  are  not  confronted  with 
the  same  conditions  with  the  en- 
gravings above  named  as  those 
27 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


which  exist  in  the  case  of  the 
Bradford  Map,  owing  to  the  for- 
tunate circumstance  that  no  cop- 
ies of  the  same  size,  or  even  ap- 
proximately so,  as  far  as  I  am 
aware,  were  ever  made ;  other- 
wise we  should  be  bothered  in 
just  the  same  way. 

To  point  out  to  others  their 
mistakes,  is  not  an  agreeable 
task,  but  1  could  not  see  this  er- 
roneous statement  in  regard  to 
the  Bradford  Map  receive  a  new 
endorsement  and  be  given  a 
fresh  impulse,  and  a  still  wider 
currency  than  it  now  enjoys, 
without  uttering  a  word  of  pro- 
test. A  well-sponsored  error 
possesses  the  gift  of  continuance 
in  a  superlative  degree,  and 
should  be  combated  and  refuted 
28 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


at  every  opportunity.  Once 
planted,  either  by  accident  or  de- 
sign, it  propagates  itself  and  is 
more  difficult  to  eradicate  from 
the  minds  of  men  than  is  that 
pest,  the  Canadian  thistle,  from 
the  field  of  the  husbandman. 
There  are  not  a  few  histories, 
so  styled,  that  might  with  con- 
siderable propriety  be  catalogued 
with  works  of  fiction,  and  for 
that  matter  the  amount  of  trust- 
worthy information  which  any 
historian  succeeds  in  corralling 
within  the  covers  of  his  book  is 
an  open  question.  To  the  er- 
rors of  former  writers  which  he 
repeats,  the  latest  chronicler 
adds  the  coloring  of  his  own 
fancy,  and  he  is  never  entirely 
free  from  the  bias  of  his  natural 
29 


THE     BRADFORD  MAP 


prejudices  and  predilections.  An 
historic  character  in  the  eyes  of 
one  writer  may  be  a  god-like 
hero,  in  those  of  another,  a  vil- 
lain of  the  deepest  dye,  but  when 
we  look  upon  an  engraving  of  a 
locality  we  are  justified  in  believ- 
ing that  it  tells  the  truth.  It  may 
be  hampered  in  its  expression  by 
lack  of  skill,  but  the  artist  de- 
picted that  which  came  within 
the  range  of  his  own  vision  and 
so  his  picture  comes  down  to  us 
as  the  testimony  of  an  eye  wit- 
ness, and  it  should  not  be  per- 
verted, either  through  careless- 
ness or  by  design. 


POSTSCRIPT 


THE  following  is  a  partial 
list,  chronologically  ar- 
ranged, of  the  copies  of 
the  Bradford  Map  which  have 
been  published  from  time  to  time 
during  the  last  fifty  or  sixty 
years.  It  would  be  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  to  trace  them  all, 
including  those  which  have  been 
used  for  advertisement  purposes, 
and  which  may  have  been  either 
reimpressions  from  one  of  the 
early  lithographic  stones  or  pho- 
/o-lithographic  copies,  and  I  have 
not  undertaken  the  task. 

The  market  value  of  these  cop- 
ies ranges  from  fifty  cents  to  five 


51 


POSTSCRIPT 


dollars,  with  naturally  an  upward 
tendency  in  price  in  sympathy 
with  the  recent  rapid  enhance- 
ment in  the  value  of  all  maps, 
prints  and  books  relating  to  the 
History  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

For  an  impression  from  the 
original  copper-plate  of  William 
Bradford  an  offer  of  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars  has  been  several 
times  declined. 

The  copies  all  bear  the  same 
caption,  viz. :  "  A  Plan  of  the  City 
of  New  York  from  an  Actual  Sur- 
vey, Made  by  James  Lyne."  They 
are  the  same  in  width,  namely  : 
22  inches,  but  only  17  instead  of 
17^  inches  in  height,  as  is  the 
original. 

No.  I.  Inscription  at  foot  of 
Map:  "Facsimile  of  an  original 
32 


POSTSCRIPT 


Map  in  the  possession  of  G.  B. 
Smith,  Street  Commissioner. 
Pub"^  by  G.  Hayward,  Lithogra- 
pher, No.  I  Cortlandt  Street, 
New  York,  1834."  This  is  appar- 
ently the  first  copy  made  of  the 
original  Map  and  it  is  the  most 
accurate  and  the  most  carefully 
executed. 

A  copy  of  this  facsimile  was 
made  by  order  of  the  Corpora- 
tion of  the  City  of  New  York,  to 
accompany  a  report  on  the  Great 
Pier  of  the  Committee  on  Docks 
in  1836.  Hay  ward's  address  on 
this  copy  is  changed  to  48  Nas- 
sau Street. 

No.  2.  Inscription  the  same  as 
on  No.  I,  except  that  the  ad- 
dress, "No.  I  Cortlandt  Street, 
New  York,  1834,"  is  erased. 
33 


POSTSCRIPT 


This  facsimile  appears  in  Val- 
entine's Manual  for  1842-4}.  It 
is  printed  upon  thin  white  paper. 

No.  3.  Inscription  the  same  as 
on  No.  2.  This  facsimile  appears 
in  Valentine's  Manual  for  1844-45. 
It  is  printed  upon  what  is  virtu- 
ally a  tissue  paper  of  a  more  deli- 
cate texture  even  than  the  paper 
of  No.  2. 

No.  4.  Inscription  the  same  as 
on  Nos.  2  and  3  except  that  the 
word  "Pub'""  is  omitted.  It  is 
printed  on  blue  paper  and  appears 
in  Valentine's  Manual  for  1851. 

This  would  appear  by  com- 
parison to  be  the  particular  fac- 
simile which  was  copied  by  Gen- 
eral Wilson  in  his  "Memorial 
History  of  the  City  of  New  York," 
and  by  Mr.  Fiske  in  his  "  Dutch 
34 


POSTSCRIPT 


and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America. " 
The  copy  of  this  facsimile  for- 
merly owned  by  General  Wilson 
is  backed  with  brown  paper,  and 
is  now  among  the  reproductions 
of  the  Bradford  Map  which  are 
being  collected  by  the  Lenox 
Library  in  its  Map  Department. 

"No.  5.  Inscription:  "Printed for 
D.  T.  Valentine's  History  of  New 
York,  1853,  by  Geo.  Hayward, 
120  Water  Street,  New  York." 

No.  6.  Inscription:  "  Entered 
according  to  Act  of  Congress  in 
the  year  1871,  by  Orrin  Vander- 
hoven  in  the  office  of  the  librarian 
of  Congress  at  Washington. 
NEW  YORK  CITY  as  it  was  in 
1728.  A  Fac-simile  of  the  first 
Official  map  of  New  York  City 
(in  1728)  showing  the  extent  of 
35 


POSTSCRIPT 


the  City  at  that  date.  A  curious 
and  valuable  Relic  when  com- 
pared with  the  Great  Metropolis 
of  the  present  day." 

No.  7.  Inscription:  "Fac-simile 
of  an  original  map  of  "New  York 
in  1728.  Published  by  F.  B.  Pat- 
terson, 61  Liberty  Street,  1874." 

Undated  copy. 
Inscription: 

1728 

"Ch  Magnus  Lith  Est— Fac- 
simile of  an  original  map  made 
1728.  Reprinted  by  John  Slater, 
Bookseller  No.  204  Chatham 
Square  New  York."  * 

This  is  a  colored  lithograph 
(the  various  wards  being  tinted 

*This  is  the  facsimile,  very  much  reduced,  which 
was  copied  by  Benson  J.  Lossing  in  his  History  of 
New  York. 

36 


POSTSCRIPT 


blue,  green,  red  and  yellow),  and 
it  is  therefore  not  a  dangerous 
counterfeit.  John  Slater  the  pub- 
lisher is  said  to  have  begun  busi- 
ness in  1838,  and  to  have  died  in 
1857. 

The  Histories  of  New  York  by 
Benson  J.  Lossing,  William  Dun- 
lap  and  Mrs.  Martha  J.  Lamb  are 
embellished  with  copies  of  James 
Lyne's  Survey  on  a  much  reduced 
scale  and  the  two  last  named  are 
without  the  full  inscription.  A 
small  section  of  the  map  is  also 
displayed  by  A.  J.  Weise  in  his 
"Discoveries  of  America."  Jus- 
tin Winsor,  in  his  ''Narrative 
and  Critical  History  of  America , ' ' 
does  not  include  among  his  illus- 
trations a  copy  of  the  map,  but 
he  refers  to  it  on  p.  253,  Vol.  V, 
37 


POSTSCRIPT 


and  mentions,  among  other  fac- 
similes, one  which  the  writer 
has  never  seen,  published  by  W. 
W.  Cox  of  Washington  (D.  C). 
This  would  make  nine  reproduc- 
tions of  approximately  the  same 
size  as  the  original  Bradford  Map 
that  we  are  now  able  to  place  on 
record. 


FINIS 


